On Thursday, Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities in collaboration with the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University and the Heritage Innovation Preservation Institute of France is to start infrared thermography scanning on the internal walls of King Tutankhamun's tomb, in order to test British archaeologist Nicholas Reeves' theory about the burial place of Queen Nefertiti.

A month ago, Reeves suggested that the northern and western walls of Tutankhamun's tomb houses hidden doorways that could lead to the final resting place of Nefertiti, the wife and co-regent of the monotheistic King Akhenaten.The scanning has until now been delayed pending security clearance.Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty told Ahram Online that the scanning process is to be employed for two days on areas identified by Reeves. He added that the work comes at the ministry's request and within the remit of Luxor's National Day, which coincides with the anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb on 4 November 1922.The ministry's permanent committee for ancient Egyptian antiquities approved the scanning process while permits have been ascertained from other relevant Egyptian authorities."This is the first concrete step to test Reeves' theory," Eldamaty told Ahram Online, minutes before travelling to Luxor to witness the scanning process.Eldamaty added that next week an Egyptian radar team will start its own research until the arrrival of Reeves and his radar scanning equipment on 25 November.